At midnight we proceeded _en route_, and arrived, as the day broke, on the bank of a swollen torrent. The primitive mode of crossing, which we were compelled to adopt, was by means of a raft, made of bamboos, bound together, crosswise, over a dozen large earthenware jars.[8] Trusting to the declared experience of our bearers, we embarked on this singular conveyance, the natives swimming alongside, and safely landing everything on the opposite shore in two or three expeditions. Whilst our bearers were engaged in this manner, I observed, a few yards above the raft, something resembling a rope being dragged across the torrent, and running down to the edge to ascertain what it was, an enormous serpent landed beside me, and departed, without any delay, into the woods. Although the stream was running with great rapidity, he had made nearly a direct course across the torrent. We proceeded onwards, during the whole day, through a heavy jungle, scarcely meeting with any human abode--except the small sheds where our relay of bearers awaited us, at the end of each stage of ten or twelve miles--whilst the storm of rain continued with unabated vigour. At nightfall we reached another torrent, or nullah, as they are called in India, where our progress seemed altogether arrested, for it proved to be more than ten feet deep, was running like a sluice, and no raft of any kind was procurable; nor did our attendants seem disposed to make any attempts; they remarked that an indigo shed was close at hand, and that we should be all drowned if we attempted to cross. Then patiently seating themselves, they looked steadily in our faces to await the decision. The choice was not a matter of difficulty; we preferred the indigo shed to being drowned, hoping that by daybreak the waters might in some degree subside. The ancients indulged their mirth at the simplicity of the "Rusticus expectans dum defluat amnis." Yet the inhabitants of India have been pretty often constrained to adopt the practice. The indigo shed, after some demur on the part of the native in charge, was opened for the reception of our palanquins and travelling cases, which had long since been thoroughly soaked. We soon found that we were not destined to be the sole tenants of the shed, for the swarms of mosquitoes exceeded any display of the kind I had seen before. We obtained a jar of charcoal to boil the kettle for our frugal meal of tea and biscuits, which soon produced a suffocating sensation. We left, in hopes of being rid of our tormentors by this expedient; but they had not apparently the same objections as ourselves, and were buzzing with renewed delight and welcome on seeing us return. In vain we closed the doors of our palanquins, and nearly stifled ourselves with heat; our active enemies forced a passage through the crevices of the blinds; they would not be baulked of their rightful food, and it was evident that a white victim was no ordinary delicacy.